I Bleed Blue and White

On a rare Saturday where Villanova didn’t play, the Wildcats needed help from another group of Wildcats to make history.  With Kentucky losing to South Carolina on Tuesday night, Villanova had a chance to become #1 in the nation for the first time in school history.  The Kansas Jayhawks downed the Kansas State Wildcats in a nailbiter though, so in all likelihood, Kansas will be #1 and Villanova #2 when the new polls come out on Monday. 

Not really a big deal if you ask me.  It would be cool to hold the top spot, but being #1 in the very last poll is all that matters.     

Jerry Meyer, a basketball recruiting analyst for Rivals, has posted Rival’s 2009 Team Recruiting Rankings. Who is #1?  None other than your Villanova Wildcats. It was a close race, but the ‘Cats edged Texas for the top spot. Other Big East teams in Rivals top 25 are:

• UConn – #9
• Louisville - #15
• Marquette – #17
• Pittsburgh - #23

I always find it interesting to see where different people and websites rank certain teams, because sometimes, a school could be ranked very high in one person’s top recruiting classes, but not even on another person’s list. Obviously, this is not the case for Villanova’s 2009 recruiting class. The soon-to-be freshmen ‘Cats are on everyone’s list, which indicates they are really really good.

The new writeup for the CBSSports BlogPoll is now up, and editors Jerry Hinnen and Brian Cook have done another fine job. Villanova came in at 10th place, which is up one spot from a week ago.

I was busy during in with the awards this week, winning 1 (I’ll give you one guess) and finishing in the Top 5 for 2 others. I finished in 4th place for Mr. Numb Existence, which is given to the voters with the most similar ballots to the final product. I had a feeling that I would be involved here for some reason, although I really can’t explain it.

Next up, I finished in my usual slot for the Coulter/Kos Award as the most biased voter. Horray for me. Jerry keeps warning me of impending disaster, but I’ll ride the hot streak as long as I can.

“Back for another week on top of the Coulter/Kos chart is Wildcat blog I Bleed Blue and White . For the past two weeks IBBW has tempted fate by running away with the CK Award, only to be curiously rewarded with a string of impressive and/or dramatic ‘Nova wins and now a cushy 3-seed for the ‘Cats at home in Philadelphia. So we’ll see if (or when) IBBW gets the usual brand of CK Award-based comeuppance, but you should know this: the last time ‘Nova received a 3 seed in the East Region was 1995, when the Kerry Kittles-led ‘Cats went down to 14th-seeded Old Dominion in three overtimes. Just sayin’.”

The ‘95 mention is completely uncalled for Jerry, but I doubt we’ll see much of a problem from American. At least I hope so. Okay, yeah, I’m a little concerned now.

Finally, I finished 2nd for Mr. Stubborn. The description of this award is “you’re damn sure you’re right, no matter what reality says.”

I should put that on my business card.

…Thanks to Jerry and Brian for doing this again…we’re off duty for the Tournament, but we’ll be back for one final g0-round after it’s all said in done…I still think we should do it monthly in the off-season…there’s comedy to be had…

In the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, Villanova has risen one spot to #12. After winning the Big East Tournament, Louisville is now the new #1 team in the country (rightfully so).

…I don’t know how Villanova is still ranked below Wake Forest…they are in a complete tailspin it feels like…also, Memphis at #2 makes me sick to my stomach, especially when if you think about it, if Louisville had lost to Syracuse, they’d probably be #1…

As we approach the NCAA Tournament, here is my second-to-last ballot for the CBSSports BlogPoll. I don’t take conference tournaments too seriously, so my ballot isn’t going to have much movement save a few teams that I was impressed with. Here’s my take on things with some commentary below.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Louisville	4
2	North Carolina	1
3	Pittsburgh	1
4	Connecticut	1
5	Memphis	1
6	Duke	3
7	Villanova
8	Michigan St.	2
9	Oklahoma	1
10	Missouri	3
11	Gonzaga
12	Wake Forest	4
13	Kansas	1
14	Washington
15	Florida St.	4
16	Syracuse	4
17	Marquette	2
18	UCLA	2
19	West Virginia	2
20	Purdue	2
21	Butler
22	Xavier
23	Arizona St.
24	St. Mary’s	1
25	Louisiana St.
Last week’s ballot


Dropped Out: Clemson (#24).

I gave some bumps to the teams that managed to do enough to win to win the meaningless conference tournaments. I was rather impressed with Florida State’s run to the title game, and Toney Douglas is going to be a man on a mission in the NCAA Tournament. Watch out. As for Purdue getting bumped down after winning the Big 10 title, I’m sorry. I’m just not impressed whatsoever at that conference. The fact that they got the same amount of bids as the ACC and Big East is a travesty.

Villanova stays the same, but basically because I know everyone else is going to move them down for losing to the #1 overall seed. That way I’m locked in for the Coulter/Kos Award yet again. I’ve got to keep the perfect streak in tact. I’m an award fiend, don’t hate on me.

If you’re wondering how Saint Mary’s is still in my bracket despite missing the tournament, I left them in there and even gave them a bump because I think they should have been in. I understand it was a horrible bubble and some teams made a run and screwed a lot of bubble teams. And even though listening to Dick Vitale cry about them was like having teeth pulled I still feel for them.

Anyone think Syracuse is getting past Arizona State and James Harden in the 2nd round? Not after they basically amputated their legs this past weekend.

Why am I reading so much about Gonzaga being a Final Four team? They have to go through North Carolina and Oklahoma. Good luck with that Zags.

I love ‘Nova’s draw. Especially a potential Sweet Sixteen matchup with Duke. But Duke could go down before that, to Texas. If AJ Abrams can get something going, goodbye Dookies.

Villanova rose 1 spot to #10 in the AP Poll, returning to the Top 10 after a 1 week absence.

North Carolina is also #1 in this poll, while the Big East again places 3 teams in the Top 5 and 6 in the Top 25.

In the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, Villanova is ranked 13th. This is up 3 spots from last week. They jumped LSU, Missouri, and Marquette.

North Carolina is the new #1, while the Big East placed 3 teams in the Top 5 (#2 Pittsburgh, #4 UConn and #5 Louisville).

…Crazy that Louisville won the conference and is the the lowest among the Big East teams in the Top 5…judging by how teams like Oklahoma, Duke, Kansas, etc. were not punished at all for losing this week, don’t get your hopes up for a big jump in the AP Poll later…although that poll ususally is a better representation of the teams…

With conference tournaments underway for the mid-majors and the tournaments for the majors set to begin, I’m not sure how many more of these polls we’re going to have. But I like them, and I’ll do them all through the off-season if we’re allowed.

(Actually, that would be great. Think of the reasons we could come up with to raise and drop teams. It’s endless. Make it happy Jerry.)

Below is my week 5 ballot. Commentary at the bottom.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	North Carolina	1
2	Pittsburgh	2
3	Connecticut	2
4	Memphis	1
5	Louisville
6	Michigan St.	2
7	Villanova	2
8	Wake Forest	2
9	Duke	2
10	Oklahoma	4
11	Gonzaga	3
12	Kansas	1
13	Missouri	1
14	Washington	10
15	Marquette	2
16	UCLA	6
17	West Virginia
18	Purdue	3
19	Florida St.	3
20	Syracuse	5
21	Butler	2
22	Xavier	3
23	Arizona St.	2
24	Clemson	4
25	St. Mary’s
Last week’s ballot

Dropped Out: Louisiana St. (#18).

Villanova dropped 1 spot to #11 in the newst AP Poll. UConn also reclaimed the top spot, but Pittsburgh only fell to #3 and still received a vote for #1 (what the hell?).

Syracuse also re-entered the AP Poll at #25.

…This poll is a much better representation of what is going on in college basketball, and has been all season…I don’t just say that because Villanova didn’t drop a lot…

…Clemson and Marquette both lost twice last week and were dropped heavily as a result…Missouri got their clocks cleaned by Kansas and was justly dropped…LSU still jumped too much in my mind but whatever…

…Let’s win tonight and not give the pollsters anymore ammo…

In the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, Villanova has landed at #16, down 4 spots from last week. Big East foe UConn regained the #1 spot, while Pittsburgh fell from the throne to #4. Syracuse re-entered the polls at #25.

…Don’t even get me started on this…I’m not saying Villanova shouldn’t have fallen, because they should have after, but how is Marquette ranked above Villanova after losing their starting point guard and losing both times they played?…

…And LSU jumping 7 spots and Washington jumping 8 spots is absurd as well…there is so much wrong with this poll…but not surprisingly it’s the Coaches Poll…I’m still not sure why people who ususally only focus on their team get to vote on this stuff…